I listened to Uzhankov's lecture on "The Captain's Daughter" and the comparison of the story with "Eugene Onegin", and there arose, at first vaguely, the image of a positive hero, as Russian writers deduced him.
It is known that Pushkin Grinev is the only truly positive and morally impeccable hero, at the same time developed in detail. But who is he? - Average abilities, a rather limited person, "simple", close to the people, although a nobleman. Next to him is his uncle - Savelich, just as simple, honest, loving, selfless.
Who else is with Pushkin? In "Onegin" - first of all ... Nature! On it, as on four pillars, the entire cosmism of the novel rests. But Nature is essentially God. Yes, He is flawless (!) Who else? Yes, only Tatyana's nanny. Partly Tatyana herself. Partly! But she is by no means mediocre.
In Belkin's stories, the positive hero is exclusively Belkin himself. Again, an insignificant, narrow-minded, quiet, simple and honest person, but he is slightly developed by the author. Stationmaster Samson Vyrin? Yes, a superbly written type of a person who is simple and moral to the point of stupidity, unable to evaluate the real thoughts and actions of people in the real world, and not in the illusory world of morality hammered into him, the caretaker Samson Vyrin. By the way, (oh, Pushkin's hidden irony!) when this Samson is deprived of his strength - support in unshakable moral rules, he immediately perishes. Because in itself "Samson" is nobody without his moral crutches. Because the support of Samson Vyrin is not in the Living God, but in the stupidly accepted rules, albeit with a good heart.
Lermontov. Of the real heroes, there is only one Maxim Maksimovich, a kind of kind and highly moral mediocrity with an eternal cast-iron teapot.
Gogol. Ostap from "Taras Bulba", characterized by his immobile narrow-mindedness and highly moral oakiness. Akaki Akakievich from "The Overcoat"? Of course, but only it is quite simple and limited to the point of tragicomism. Well, even the old-world landowners - Afanasy Ivanovich Tovstogub and his wife Pulcheria Ivanovna, amoeba-positive and touching to the point of ridiculousness, which takes them beyond the very positivity into the realm of Russian denseness. And again - Nature! All-embracing, all-knowing, all-loving, all-forgiving, that is, God.
Turgenev. Lemm from the Noble Nest, a sentimental German, a mediocre musician, kind, loving and even sharp-sighted in love, who has taken root in Russia like a cat takes root in a house. Arkady from Fathers and Sons”, quite an ordinary person in his natural kindness. Nature is in the first place for Turgenev. She is God, literally and figuratively. Insarov from "On the Eve"? Noble? - Yes. Outstanding personality? - Yes. But this revolutionary will still get things done. The author kills him, so as not to think about his future bloody revolutionary exploits (which we Russians are well aware of from our further experience!) Elena, although she is secondary, her personality is induced by love for Insarov.
Dostoevsky. His stubborn, to the point of obsession, desire to write a truly positive person gave us Prince Myshkin - an idiot. Here, comments are superfluous, and Myshkin's often pedaled allusion with Christ is possible only with a reference to the Gospel texts, where those around him consider Jesus a madman. In other words: Jesus was known as a madman, and Myshkin was one. The heroes of "Poor People" (Makar Alekseevich Devushkin Varvara Alekseevna Dobroselova) are loving, but limited, of low flight. Of course, Alyosha from The Brothers Karamazov, carefully designed and again with a reference to Christ. And again Katerina Ivanovna, in anger, calls him "the little holy fool"! Is he wise? No, not by itself, but through the elder Zosima and, ultimately, through Christ. Razumikhin from Crime and Punishment, a desperately narrow-minded noble man, the reader cannot even strongly sympathize with him. Although he can sympathize with the villain (?) Svidrigailov.
Tolstoy. Karl Ivanovich from "Childhood". Captain Tushin and Platon Karataev from War and Peace. All the same gray, imperceptible, almost unconscious (“the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing!”!) kindness. Nikolai Rostov from "War and Peace" is a fundamental mediocrity that has risen even to the realization of himself as such, but still remains such. Maria Bolkonskaya, the wife of Nikolai Rostov, is perhaps the only deep positive heroine! The old Prince Bolkonsky is drawn brightly, but schematically. Levin from Anna Karenina. Ivan Ilyich's servant Gerasim from the story "The Death of Ivan Ilyich". And Nature, Nature, Nature, in which God acts, acts directly, free from the resistance of the evil will of people corrupted by sin.
In the future, our literature did not know truly positive heroes. In Chekhov, perhaps the author himself (not the real Anton Pavlovich!) And Nature. Maybe the wife of Misha Platonov? She utters a brilliant Christian monologue, but alas, her narrow-mindedness and even stupidity are obvious at the same time. So, it is not she who pronounces this monologue, but Christ through her mouth ... Gorky generally and in principle has no positive heroes. This is especially evident in the great books of Klim Samgin.
Let's summarize our findings.
Pushkin: Grinev, Savelich, Tatyana's nanny, Tatiana, Belkin, Samson Vyrin.
Lermontov: Maxim Maksimovich.
Gogol: Ostap, Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, Afanasy Ivanovich Tovstogub and his wife Pulcheria Ivanovna.
Turgenev: Lemm, Arkady, Insarov, Elena.
Dostoevsky: Makar Devushkin and Varya Dobroselova, Prince Myshkin, Alyosha Karamazov, Razumikhin.
Tolstoy: Karl Ivanovich, Captain Tushin, Platon Karataev, Nikolai Rostov, Maria Bolkonskaya, Levin, servant of Ivan Ilyich - Gerasim.
Everyone has: Nature - Christ - God.
Well?
Outstanding personalities are highlighted in bold. There are only three of them. Of these, Insarov is a potential theomachist. All the rest are mediocre, but the Lord speaks through them. Such is the unintentional, but natural, sincere, most likely unconscious position of Russian literature: “Where it is simple, there are hundreds of angels!” Is it good or bad? Neither one nor the other. This is us.
I continue the once started series "Literary Heroes" ...
Heroes of Russian literature
Almost every literary character has its own prototype - a real person. Sometimes it is the author himself (Ostrovsky and Pavka Korchagin, Bulgakov and the Master), sometimes it is a historical figure, sometimes it is an acquaintance or relative of the author.
This story is about the prototypes of Chatsky and Taras Bulba, Ostap Bender, Timur and other heroes of books...
1. Chatsky "Woe from Wit"
The main character of Griboyedov's comedy - Chatsky- most often associated with the name Chaadaeva(in the first version of the comedy, Griboyedov wrote "Chadsky"), although the image of Chatsky is in many ways a social type of the era, a "hero of the time."
Petr Yakovlevich Chaadaev(1796-1856) - participant in the Patriotic War of 1812, was on a foreign campaign. In 1814 he joined the Masonic lodge, and in 1821 he agreed to join a secret society.
From 1823 to 1826, Chaadaev traveled around Europe, comprehended the latest philosophical teachings. After returning to Russia in 1828-1830, he wrote and published a historical and philosophical treatise: "Philosophical Letters". The views, ideas, and judgments of the thirty-six-year-old philosopher turned out to be so unacceptable for Nicholas Russia that the author of the Philosophical Letters suffered an unprecedented punishment: he was declared insane by the highest decree. It so happened that the literary character did not repeat the fate of his prototype, but predicted it...
2. Taras Bulba
Taras Bulba is written out so organically and vividly that the reader does not leave the feeling of his reality.
But there was a man whose fate is similar to the fate of the hero Gogol. And this man also had a surname Gogol!
Ostap Gogol was born at the beginning of the 17th century. On the eve of 1648, he was a captain of the "panzer" Cossacks in the Polish army stationed in Uman under the command of S. Kalinovsky. With the outbreak of the uprising, Gogol, along with his heavy cavalry, went over to the side of the Cossacks. 
In October 1657, Hetman Vyhovsky, with a general foreman, of which Ostap Gogol was a member, concluded the Treaty of Korsun between Ukraine and Sweden.
In the summer of 1660, Ostap's regiment took part in the Chudnivsky campaign, after which the Slobodischensky treaty was signed. Gogol took the side of autonomy within the Commonwealth, he was made a gentry.
In 1664, an uprising broke out in Right-Bank Ukraine against the Poles and the hetman Teteri. Gogol at first supported the rebels. However, he again went over to the side of the enemy. The reason for this was his sons, whom Hetman Potocki held hostage in Lvov. When Doroshenko became hetman, Gogol came under his mace and helped him a lot. When he fought with the Turks near Ochakov, Doroshenko at the Rada proposed to recognize the supremacy of the Turkish Sultan, and it was accepted.
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At the end of 1671, the Crown Hetman Sobieski took Mogilev, Gogol's residence. During the defense of the fortress, one of the sons of Ostap died. The colonel himself fled to Moldavia and from there sent Sobieski a letter of his desire to obey.
As a reward for this, Ostap received the village of Vilkhovets. The letter of salary of the estate served the grandfather of the writer Nikolai Gogol as evidence of his nobility.
Colonel Gogol became Hetman of Right-Bank Ukraine on behalf of King Jan III Sobieski. He died in 1679 at his residence in Dymer, and was buried in the Kiev-Mezhigorsky monastery not far from Kyiv.
story analogy is obvious: both heroes are Zaporozhye colonels, both had sons, one of whom died at the hands of the Poles, the other went over to the side of the enemy. Thus, a distant ancestor of the writer and was the prototype of Taras Bulba.
3. Plushkin
Orlovsky landowner Spiridon Matsnev he was extremely stingy, walked around in a greasy dressing gown and dirty clothes, so that few could recognize him as a rich gentleman.
The landowner had 8,000 souls of peasants, but he starved not only them, but also himself. 
This stingy landowner N.V. Gogol brought out in "Dead Souls" in the form of Plyushkin. “If Chichikov had met him, dressed up like that, somewhere at the church doors, he would probably have given him a copper penny”...
“This landowner had more than a thousand souls, and someone else would have tried to find so much bread in grain, flour and simply in luggage, who would have pantries, barns and dryers cluttered with such a multitude of canvases, cloths, tanned and rawhide sheepskins ... " .
The image of Plushkin has become a household name.
4. Silvio
"Shot" A.S. Pushkin
Silvio's prototype is Ivan Petrovich Liprandi.
Pushkin's friend, Silvio's prototype in Shot.
Author of the best memories of Pushkin's southern exile.
The son of a Russified Spanish grandee. Member of the Napoleonic Wars since 1807 (from the age of 17). Colleague and friend of the Decembrist Raevsky, member of the Union of Welfare. Arrested in the case of the Decembrists in January 1826, he sat in a cell with Griboyedov. 
“... His personality was of undoubted interest in terms of his talents, fate and original way of life. He was gloomy and gloomy, but he liked to gather officers at his place and treat them widely. The sources of his income were shrouded in mystery for everyone. A scribbler and book lover, he was famous for his breter, and a rare duel took place without his participation.
Pushkin "Shot" 
At the same time, Liprandi, as it turned out, was a member of military intelligence and the secret police.
Since 1813, the head of the secret political police under the army of Vorontsov in France. He was in close contact with the famous Vidocq. Together with the French gendarmerie, he participated in the disclosure of the anti-government Pin Society. Since 1820 he was the chief military intelligence officer at the headquarters of the Russian troops in Bessarabia. At the same time, he became the main theorist and practitioner of military and political espionage.
Since 1828 - the head of the Supreme Secret Foreign Police. Since 1820 - in the direct subordination of Benckendorff. The organizer of the provocation in the circle of Butashevich-Petrashevsky. Organizer of Ogarev's arrest in 1850. The author of the project on the establishment of a school of spies at the universities ...
5. Andrey Bolkonsky
Prototypes Andrei Bolkonsky there were several. His tragic death was "written off" by Leo Tolstoy from the biography of the real prince Dmitry Golitsyn.
Prince Dmitry Golitsyn was signed up for service in the Moscow archive of the Ministry of Justice. Soon, Emperor Alexander I granted him to the chamber junkers, and then to the actual chamberlains, which was equated to the rank of general. 
In 1805, Prince Golitsyn entered the military service and, together with the army, went through the campaigns of 1805-1807.
In 1812, he filed a report with a request to be enrolled in the army., became an Akhtyrsky hussar, Denis Davydov also served in the same regiment. Golitsin participated in border battles as part of the 2nd Russian army of General Bagration, fought on the Shevardinsky redoubt, and then ended up on the left flank of the Russian orders on the Borodino field.
In one of the skirmishes, Major Golitsyn was seriously wounded by a grenade fragment., he was taken out of the battlefield. After the operation in the field infirmary, it was decided to take the wounded man further east.
"House of Bolkonsky" in Vladimir. 
They made a stop in Vladimir, Major Golitsyn was placed in one of the merchant houses on a steep hill on the Klyazma. But, almost a month after the Battle of Borodino, Dmitry Golitsyn died in Vladimir ...
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Soviet literature
6. Assol
The gentle dreamer Assol had more than one prototype.
First prototype - Maria Sergeevna Alonkina, secretary of the House of Arts, almost everyone living and visiting this House was in love with her.
Once, going up the stairs to his office, Green saw a short, swarthy-faced girl talking to Korney Chukovsky.
There was something unearthly in her appearance: flying gait, radiant look, sonorous happy laughter. It seemed to him that she looked like Assol from the story "Scarlet Sails", on which he was working at that time.
The image of 17-year-old Masha Alonkina occupied Green's imagination and was reflected in the extravaganza story. 
“I don’t know how many years will pass, only in Kapern one fairy tale will bloom, memorable for a long time. You will be big, Assol. One morning in the distance of the sea, a scarlet sail will sparkle under the sun. The shining bulk of the scarlet sails of the white ship will move, cutting through the waves, straight to you ... "
And in 1921, Green meets with Nina Nikolaevna Mironova, who worked in the newspaper "Petrograd Echo". He, gloomy, lonely, was easy with her, he was amused by her coquetry, he admired her love of life. Soon they got married.
The door is closed, the lamp is on.
In the evening she will come to me
No more aimless, dull days -
I sit and think about her...
On this day she will give me her hand,
I trust quietly and completely.
A terrible world rages around
Come, beautiful, dear friend.
Come, I've been waiting for you for a long time.
It was so dull and dark
But the winter spring has come,
Light knock ... My wife came.
To her, his "winter spring", Green dedicated the extravaganza "Scarlet Sails" and the novel "The Shining World".
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7. Ostap Bender and Children of Lieutenant Schmidt
The man who became the prototype of Ostap Bender is known.
This - Osip (Ostap) Veniaminovich Shor(1899 -1979). Shor was born in Odessa, was an employee of the UGRO, a football player, a traveler .... Was a buddy E. Bagritsky, Y. Olesha, Ilf and Petrov. His brother was the futurist poet Natan Fioletov.
The appearance, character and speech of Ostap Bender are taken from Osip Shor.
Almost all the famous "Bendera" phrases - "The ice has broken, gentlemen of the jury!", "I will command the parade!", "My dad was a Turkish citizen ..." and many others - were gleaned by the authors from Shor's lexicon.
In 1917, Shor entered the first year of the Petrograd Institute of Technology, and in 1919 he left for his homeland. He got home almost two years, with many adventures about which he spoke authors of The Twelve Chairs.
The stories they told about how he, not knowing how to draw, got a job as an artist on a propaganda ship, or about how he gave a simultaneous game session in some remote town, introducing himself as an international grandmaster, was reflected in "12 Chairs" with virtually no changes.
By the way, the famous leader of the Odessa bandits, Mishka Jap, with whom the employee of the UGRO Shor fought, became the prototype Beni Krika, from " Odessa stories” by I. Babel.
And here is the episode that gave rise to the creation of the image "children of Lieutenant Schmidt".
In August 1925, a man with an oriental appearance, decently dressed, wearing American glasses, appeared at the Gomel provincial executive committee and introduced himself Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Uzbek SSR Faizula Khodzhaev. He told Yegorov, chairman of the gubernia executive committee, that he was going from Crimea to Moscow, but money and documents were stolen from him on the train. Instead of a passport, he presented a certificate that he really was Khodzhaev, signed by Ibragimov, chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Crimean Republic.
He was warmly received, given money, they began to take him to theaters and banquets. But one of the police chiefs decided to compare the personality of the Uzbek with the portraits of the chairmen of the CEC, which he found in an old magazine. Thus, false Khodjays were exposed, who turned out to be a native of Kokand, who was on his way from Tbilisi, where he was serving a term ...
In the same way, posing as a high-ranking official, the former convict had fun in Yalta, Simferopol, Novorossiysk, Kharkov, Poltava, Minsk...
It was a fun time the time of the NEP and such desperate people, adventurers as Shor and false Khodjays.
Later I will write separately about Bender ...
………
8. Timur
TIMUR is the hero of the screenplay and A. Gaidar's story "Timur and his team." One of the most famous and popular heroes of Soviet children's literature of the 30s - 40s.
Under the influence of A.P. Gaidar "Timur and his team" in the USSR arose among the pioneers and schoolchildren in the beginning. 1940s "Timurov movement". Timurovites provided assistance to the families of military personnel, the elderly ...
It is believed that the “prototype” of the Timurov team for A. Gaidar was a group of scouts that operated back in the 1910s in a suburban suburb of St. Petersburg.“Timurovites” and “scouts” really have a lot in common (especially in the ideology and practice of “chivalrous” care of children about the people around them, the idea of doing good deeds “in secret”).
The story told by Gaidar turned out to be surprisingly consonant with the mood of a whole generation of guys: the struggle for justice, the underground headquarters, the specific signaling, the ability to rapidly assemble "along the chain", etc. 
It is interesting that in the early edition the story was called "Duncan and his team" or "Duncan to the rescue" - the hero of the story was - Vovka Duncan. The influence of the work is obvious Jules Verne: yacht "Duncan"» at the first alarm went to help Captain Grant.
In the spring of 1940, while working on a film based on a still unfinished story, the name "Duncan" was rejected. The Committee on Cinematography expressed bewilderment: "Good Soviet boy. Pioneer. I came up with such a useful game and suddenly -" Duncan ". We consulted with our comrades here - you need to change your name"
And then Gaidar gave the hero the name of his own son, whom he called "the little commander" in life. According to another version - Timur- the name of the boy next door. Here comes the girl Zhenya received the name from the adopted daughter of Gaidar from her second marriage.
The image of Timur embodies the ideal type of a teenage leader with his desire for noble deeds, secrets, pure ideals.
concept "Timurovets" firmly established in everyday life. Until the end of the 1980s, children who provided disinterested assistance to those in need were called Timurovites.
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9. Captain Vrungel
From the story Andrey Nekrasov "The Adventures of Captain Vrungel"".
The book is about the incredible sea adventures of the resourceful and resilient captain Vrungel, his senior assistant Lom and the sailor Fuchs. 
Christopher Bonifatievich Vrungel- the main character and narrator, on whose behalf the story is being told. An old experienced sailor, with a solid and judicious character, is not without ingenuity.
The first part of the surname uses the word "liar". Vrungel, whose name has become a household name - the marine analogue of Baron Munchausen, telling stories about his sailing adventures.
According to Nekrasov himself, the prototype of Vrungel was his acquaintance with the surname Vronsky, a lover of telling maritime fiction stories with his participation. His surname was so suitable for the protagonist that the original book should have been called " Adventures of Captain Vronsky", however, for fear of offending a friend, the author chose a different surname for the protagonist.
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(Guillermo Erades)
And also about why Russian women understand: you should not count on "happily ever after"
After the recent BBC adaptation of War and Peace, many TV viewers dusted off their old copies of Tolstoy's masterpiece and went for a new approach. Those who are especially brave, perhaps inspired by the magnificent Natasha Rostova, will want to plunge into the vast world of Russian literature in search of equally memorable female images. Where to begin? You have found what you need. Here is your guide to selected heroines of Russian literature.
We all know that all happy heroines are equally happy, and each unhappy heroine is unhappy in her own way. But here's what's interesting: in Russian literature, happy heroes are a rarity. In fact, Russian heroines tend to complicate their lives. And it works, because in no small part of the charm of these characters is due to their suffering and tragic fates. Because they are Russian.
The narrator in my first novel, Back to Moscow, is working - or pretending to be working - on a dissertation on female characters in Russian literature. He tries to build relationships with the women he meets along the way, drawing on the lessons he has learned from the Russian classics. He soon realizes that modern Russia is no longer the country that Tolstoy and Chekhov described in their books. And Moscow at the dawn of the 21st century is a bustling metropolis undergoing rapid and profound changes, and women in this city very rarely behave as described in books.
One thing is worth remembering about Russian heroines: their stories are not about overcoming obstacles on the way to a happy ending. As guardians of national values that have long been revered, they know that there is more to life than happiness.
Tatyana Larina - Eugene Onegin
In the beginning there was Tatyana. She was the Eve of Russian literature. Not only because she was the first, but also because of Pushkin's special place in the hearts of Russians - he is like a shrine. Any Russian, holding a pickle in his hands, is ready to recite entire poems of the father of modern Russian literature (and after a couple of glasses of vodka, many do just that). Pushkin's masterpiece "Eugene Onegin" is actually not about Onegin, but about Tatyana, a young provincial lady in love with the title character.Unlike the cynical reveler Onegin, corrupted by the influence of European values, Tatyana embodies the purity and essence of the Mysterious Russian Soul, including the readiness for self-sacrifice and the ability to despise happiness - these qualities of her are obvious, it is worth remembering the famous scene in which she refuses her beloved man .
Anna Karenina
Unlike Pushkin's Tatyana, who resisted the temptation, Tolstoy's Anna decided to leave her husband and son for Vronsky. The somewhat hysterical heroine is distinguished by a special talent for making the wrong choice, for which she then has to pay.
Her main mistake is not that she started an affair or left her child. Anna's sin, from which her tragedy was born, lies elsewhere - in a "selfish" desire to satisfy her romantic and sexual desires, she forgot about the lesson of the selfless Tatyana: if you see a light at the end of the tunnel, cool down and step aside - it could be an approaching train .
Sonya Marmeladova - Crime and Punishment
In Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Sonya is opposed to Raskolnikov. A harlot and a saint at the same time, Sonya perceives her existence as a long road of martyrdom. Upon learning of Raskolnikov's crimes, she did not run away, on the contrary, she is ready to share this burden with him and save his soul, for example, tirelessly reading the Bible to him and reminding him of the story of the resurrection of Lazarus. Sonya can forgive Raskolnikov because she believes that all people are equal before God, and God forgives everything. You just have to repent - it's wonderful.
Natasha Rostova - War and Peace
Natasha Rostova is a dream come true. Smart, cheerful, spontaneous, funny. Pushkin's Tatyana is too good to be true, but Tolstoy's Natasha seems real, alive. Partly, perhaps, the reason is that, among other things, she is a wayward, naive, flirtatious and - in the manner of the early 19th century - teasing.
For the first time on the pages of the novel, Natasha appears as a charming teenager, full of joy and love of life. As the story progresses, she matures, learns life lessons, tames her fickle heart, gains depth and wisdom. In addition, this woman, which is so uncharacteristic of Russian literature, is still smiling after a thousand pages.
Irina Prozorova - Three sisters
At the beginning of Chekhov's play "Three Sisters", Irina, the youngest of them, is full of hope and light. While her older sisters, bored in the provinces, complain and frown, Irina's naive soul exudes endless optimism. She dreams of leaving for Moscow, where, as she thinks, she will meet true love, and their whole family will be happy. But the hopes of moving are fading, Irina realizes that she can forever be stuck in her town, and her inner fire is gradually fading.
In the images of Irina and her sisters, Chekhov shows life as a series of dull episodes, which is only occasionally interrupted by occasional outbursts of joy. Like Irina, we all live our lives, constantly distracted by the insignificant, dreaming of a better future, gradually realizing the insignificance of our own existence.
Liza Kalitina - Noble Nest
In The Nest of Nobles, Turgenev represents the quintessential Russian heroine. Liza is young, naive, pure in heart. There are two admirers in her life - a young and cheerful handsome officer and a sad married man older than her. Guess who won her heart? The choice of Lisa says a lot about the Mysterious Russian Soul. She clearly gravitates toward suffering.
Her decision shows that the pursuit of melancholic sadness is a life path like any other. In the finale, Lisa renounces her love and goes to a monastery, choosing the path of self-denial and deprivation. “Happiness didn’t come to me,” she says, as if explaining herself, “even when I had hopes for happiness, my heart ached.” She is lovely.
Margarita - Master and Margarita
Chronologically, the last addition to the canon, Bulgakov's Margarita is the strangest in this series. At the beginning of the novel, this is an unhappy woman who becomes the Master's lover and muse, and then turns into a flying witch. In Margarita, the Master draws energy, she, like Sonya for Raskolnikov, is his healer, lover, savior. When he needs help, she turns to Satan himself and, in the name of love, concludes an agreement with him in the spirit of Faust, after which, finally, she reunites with her chosen one, albeit not in this world.
Olga Semyonovna - Darling
Chekhov's "Darling" tells the story of Olga Semyonovna, a loving and tender nature, an ingenuous woman who, as the reader will know, lives to love. Poor Olga became a young widow. Twice. Left without a man to love, she lost her taste for life and preferred seclusion in the company of her cat.
In his review of Darling, Tolstoy wrote that Chekhov, intending to ridicule this ingenuous woman, unexpectedly portrayed an unusually sweet heroine. Tolstoy went further, accusing Chekhov of being too harsh with Olga, that he judges her by her mind, and not by her spiritual qualities. According to Tolstoy, Olga embodies the ability of a Russian woman to unconditional love - a virtue unfamiliar to a man.
Madam Odintsova - Fathers and Sons
In Turgenev's "Fathers and Sons" (the title of this novel is often erroneously translated into English as "Fathers and Sons") Mrs. Odintsova, as her surname hints, is a lonely woman. At least, by the standards of its time. Although Odintsova was conceived as an unusual character, she passed the test of time and became, in a sense, a pioneer among literary heroines.
In contrast to other female characters in the novel, who submit to the demands placed on them by society, Odintsova, a widow without children and without a mother, stubbornly defends her independence, refusing, like Tatyana in Pushkin, the only opportunity to experience true love.
Nastasya Filippovna - Idiot
The heroine of The Idiot, Nastasya Filippovna, is an example of Dostoevsky's complexity. This is a woman who has been used, a victim of her own beauty. Orphaned at an early age, she found herself in the care of an adult man who made her his mistress. In an attempt to break free from the chains of fate and become a kind of femme fatale, Nastasya, suffering from mental wounds, cannot get rid of the guilt that casts a shadow on her every decision.
In the manner traditional for Russian literature, life puts the heroine in front of a difficult choice - mainly the choice of a man. And within the framework of the same tradition, she is unable to make the right choice, but instead submits to fate and, ultimately, allows her to carry herself towards a tragic ending.
Russian literature has given us a cavalcade of both positive and negative characters. We decided to recall the second group. Beware, spoilers.
20. Alexei Molchalin (Alexander Griboyedov, "Woe from Wit")
Molchalin is the hero of "nothing", Famusov's secretary. He is faithful to his father's behest: "to please all people without exception - the owner, the boss, his servant, the janitor's dog."
In a conversation with Chatsky, he sets out his life principles, which are that "at my age one should not dare to have one's own judgment."
Molchalin is sure that you need to think and act as is customary in the "famus" society, otherwise they will gossip about you, and, as you know, "evil tongues are worse than pistols."
He despises Sophia, but is ready to please Famusov to sit with her all night long, playing the role of a lover.
19. Grushnitsky (Mikhail Lermontov, "A Hero of Our Time")
Grushnitsky has no name in Lermontov's story. He is the "double" of the main character - Pechorin. According to Lermontov’s description, Grushnitsky is “... one of those people who have ready-made lush phrases for all occasions, who are simply not touched by the beautiful and who importantly drape in extraordinary feelings, sublime passions and exceptional suffering. To produce an effect is their delight ... ".
Grushnitsky is very fond of pathos. There is not an ounce of sincerity in him. Grushnitsky is in love with Princess Mary, and at first she answers him with special attention, but then falls in love with Pechorin.
The case ends in a duel. Grushnitsky is so low that he conspires with friends and they do not load Pechorin's pistol. The hero cannot forgive such frank meanness. He reloads the pistol and kills Grushnitsky.
18. Afanasy Totsky (Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Idiot)
Afanasy Totsky, having adopted and dependent Nastya Barashkova, the daughter of a deceased neighbor, eventually “became close to her”, developing a suicidal complex in the girl and indirectly becoming one of the culprits of her death.
Extremely avid to the female, at the age of 55, Totsky decided to connect his life with the daughter of General Epanchin Alexandra, deciding to marry Nastasya to Ganya Ivolgin. However, neither of these things worked out. As a result, Totsky "was captivated by a visiting Frenchwoman, a Marquise and a Legitimist."
17. Alena Ivanovna (Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment)
The old pawnbroker is a character that has become a household name. Even those who have not read Dostoevsky's novel have heard of her. Alena Ivanovna is not so old by today’s standards, she is “60 years old”, but the author describes her like this: “... a dry old woman with sharp and angry eyes with a small pointed nose ... Her blond, slightly graying hair was oiled with oil. Some kind of flannel rag was wrapped around her thin and long neck, similar to a chicken leg ... ".
The old woman pawnbroker is engaged in usury and profits from the grief of people. She takes valuable things at huge interest, treats her younger sister Lizaveta, and beats her.
16. Arkady Svidrigailov (Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment)
Svidrigailov - one of Raskolnikov's doubles in Dostoevsky's novel, a widower, at one time was bought out of prison by his wife, lived in the village for 7 years. A cynical and depraved person. On his conscience, the suicide of a servant, a 14-year-old girl, possibly the poisoning of his wife.
Due to Svidrigailov's harassment, Raskolnikov's sister lost her job. Upon learning that Raskolnikov is a murderer, Luzhin blackmails Dunya. The girl shoots at Svidrigailov and misses.
Svidrigailov is an ideological scoundrel, he does not experience moral torment and experiences "world boredom", eternity seems to him "a bathhouse with spiders." As a result, he commits suicide with a shot from a revolver.
15. Boar (Alexander Ostrovsky, Thunderstorm)
In the image of Kabanikh, one of the central characters in the play "Thunderstorm", Ostrovsky reflected the outgoing patriarchal, strict archaism. Kabanova Marfa Ignatievna - "a rich merchant's wife, widow", Katerina's mother-in-law, mother of Tikhon and Varvara.
The boar is very domineering and strong, she is religious, but more outwardly, because she does not believe in forgiveness or mercy. She is as practical as possible and lives by earthly interests.
Kabanikha is sure that the family way of life can be preserved only on fear and orders: “After all, out of love, parents are strict with you, out of love they scold you, everyone thinks to teach good.” She perceives the departure of the former order as a personal tragedy: “That’s how the old days are brought out ... What will happen, as the elders die, ... I don’t know.”
14. Lady (Ivan Turgenev, "Mumu")
We all know the sad story that Gerasim drowned Mumu, but not everyone remembers why he did it, but he did it because the despotic lady ordered him to do so.
The same landowner had previously given the washerwoman Tatyana, with whom Gerasim was in love, to the drunkard shoemaker Kapiton, which ruined both.
The lady, at her own discretion, decides the fate of her serfs, not at all considering their wishes, and sometimes even common sense.
13. Footman Yasha (Anton Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard)
Lackey Yasha in Anton Chekhov's play "The Cherry Orchard" is an unpleasant character. He openly bows to everything foreign, while he is extremely ignorant, rude and even boorish. When his mother comes to him from the village and waits for him in the servants' room all day, Yasha dismissively declares: "It is very necessary, I could come tomorrow."
Yasha tries to behave decently in public, tries to appear educated and well-mannered, but at the same time, alone with Firs, she says to the old man: “You are tired, grandfather. If only you'd die sooner."
Yasha is very proud of the fact that he lived abroad. With a foreign gloss, he wins the heart of the maid Dunyasha, but uses her location for his own benefit. After the sale of the estate, the lackey persuades Ranevskaya to take him back to Paris with her. It is impossible for him to stay in Russia: "the country is uneducated, the people are immoral, moreover, boredom ...".
12. Pavel Smerdyakov (Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov)
Smerdyakov is a character with a speaking surname, according to rumors, the illegitimate son of Fyodor Karrmazov from the city's holy fool Lizaveta Smerdyashchaya. The surname Smerdyakov was given to him by Fyodor Pavlovich in honor of his mother.
Smerdyakov serves as a cook in Karamazov's house, and, apparently, he cooks quite well. However, this is "a man with rottenness." This is evidenced by at least Smerdyakov’s reasoning about history: “In the twelfth year there was a great invasion of Russia by Emperor Napoleon of France, the first, and it would be good if these very French had conquered us then, an intelligent nation would have conquered a very stupid one, sir, and annexed to itself. There would even be other orders.”
Smerdyakov is the murderer of Karamazov's father.
11. Pyotr Luzhin (Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment)
Luzhin is another of the twins of Rodion Raskolnikov, a business man of 45 years old, "with a cautious and obnoxious physiognomy."
Having broken out "from rags to riches", Luzhin is proud of his pseudo-education, behaves arrogantly and stiffly. Having made an offer to Duna, he anticipates that she will be grateful to him all her life for the fact that he "brought her to the people."
He also wooed Dunya by calculation, believing that she would be useful to him for his career. Luzhin hates Raskolnikov because he opposes their union with Dunya. Luzhin, on the other hand, pockets Sonya Marmeladova one hundred rubles at her father's funeral, accusing her of stealing.
10. Kirila Troyekurov (Alexander Pushkin, "Dubrovsky")
Troekurov is an example of a Russian master, spoiled by his power and environment. He spends his time in idleness, drunkenness, voluptuousness. Troekurov sincerely believes in his impunity and unlimited possibilities (“That is the strength to take away the estate without any right”).
The master loves his daughter Masha, but passes her off as an old man she does not love. Troekurov's serfs look like their master - the Troekurov kennel is insolent to Dubrovsky Sr. - and thereby quarrels old friends.
9. Sergei Talberg (Mikhail Bulgakov, White Guard)
Sergei Talberg is the husband of Elena Turbina, a traitor and opportunist. He easily changes his principles, beliefs, without much effort and remorse. Thalberg is always where it is easier to live, so he runs abroad. He leaves his family and friends. Even Talberg's eyes (which, as you know, are the "mirror of the soul") are "two-story", he is the exact opposite of the Turbins.
Talberg was the first to put on a red armband at the military school in March 1917 and, as a member of the military committee, arrested the famous General Petrov.
8. Alexey Shvabrin (Alexander Pushkin, The Captain's Daughter)
Shvabrin is the antipode of the protagonist of Pushkin's story "The Captain's Daughter" by Pyotr Grinev. He was exiled to the Belogorsk fortress for murder in a duel. Shvabrin is undoubtedly smart, but at the same time he is cunning, impudent, cynical, and mocking. Having received Masha Mironova's refusal, he spreads dirty rumors about her, wounds him in the back in a duel with Grinev, goes over to Pugachev's side, and, having been captured by government troops, spreads rumors that Grinev is a traitor. In general, a rubbish person.
7. Vasilisa Kostyleva (Maxim Gorky, "At the Bottom")
In Gorky's play "At the Bottom" everything is sad and melancholy. Such an atmosphere is diligently maintained by the owners of the rooming house where the action takes place - the Kostylevs. The husband is a nasty cowardly and greedy old man, Vasilisa's wife is a prudent, dodgy opportunist, forcing her lover Vaska Ash to steal for her sake. When she finds out that he himself is in love with her sister, she promises to give her away in exchange for killing her husband.
6. Mazepa (Alexander Pushkin, Poltava)
Mazepa is a historical character, but if in history the role of Mazepa is ambiguous, then in Pushkin's poem Mazepa is an unambiguously negative character. Mazepa appears in the poem as an absolutely immoral, dishonorable, vengeful, vicious person, like a treacherous hypocrite for whom nothing is sacred (he “does not know the shrine”, “does not remember goodness”), a person who is accustomed to achieve his goal at any cost.
The seducer of his young goddaughter Maria, he publicly executes her father Kochubey and - already sentenced to death - subjected to severe torture in order to find out where he hid his treasures. Without equivocation, Pushkin denounces Mazepa's political activity, which is determined only by the love of power and the thirst for revenge on Peter.
5. Foma Opiskin (Fyodor Dostoevsky, "The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants")
Foma Opiskin is an extremely negative character. Livelier, hypocrite, liar. He diligently portrays piety and education, tells everyone about his supposedly ascetic experience and sparkles with quotes from books...
When he gets his hands on power, he shows his true nature. “The low soul, having come out from under oppression, oppresses itself. Thomas was oppressed - and he immediately felt the need to oppress himself; they broke down on him - and he himself began to break down on others. He was a jester and immediately felt the need to have his own jesters. He boasted to the point of absurdity, broke down to the point of impossibility, demanded bird's milk, tyrannized without measure, and it came to the point that good people, having not yet witnessed all these tricks, but listening only to stories, considered all this to be a miracle, an obsession, they were baptized and spat…”
4. Viktor Komarovsky (Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago)
Lawyer Komarovsky is a negative character in Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago. In the fates of the main characters - Zhivago and Lara, Komarovsky is an "evil genius" and a "grey eminence". He is guilty of the ruin of the Zhivago family and the death of the protagonist's father, he cohabits with Lara's mother and with Lara herself. Finally, Komarovsky deceives Zhivago and his wife apart. Komarovsky is smart, prudent, greedy, cynical. All in all, a bad person. He himself understands this, but it suits him perfectly.
3. Judas Golovlev (Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, "Gentlemen Golovlevs")
Porfiry Vladimirovich Golovlev, nicknamed Yudushka and Krovopivushka, is "the last representative of a swindled family." He is hypocritical, greedy, cowardly, prudent. He spends his life in endless slander and litigation, drives his son to suicide, while imitating extreme religiosity, reading prayers "without the participation of the heart."
Toward the end of his dark life, Golovlev gets drunk and runs wild, goes into a March blizzard. In the morning, his stiff corpse is found.
2. Andriy (Nikolai Gogol, Taras Bulba)
Andriy is the youngest son of Taras Bulba, the hero of the story of the same name by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. Andriy, as Gogol writes, from early youth began to feel the "need for love." This need brings him down. He falls in love with a panochka, betrays his homeland, friends, and father. Andriy admits: “Who said that my homeland is Ukraine? Who gave it to me in the homeland? The fatherland is what our soul seeks, which is sweeter for it than anything. My homeland is you! ... and everything that is, I will sell, give, destroy for such a homeland!
Andrew is a traitor. He is killed by his own father.
1. Fyodor Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov)
He is voluptuous, greedy, envious, stupid. To maturity, he became flabby, began to drink a lot, opened several taverns, made many countrymen his debtors ... He began to compete with his eldest son Dmitry for the heart of Grushenka Svetlova, which paved the way for the crime - Karamazov was killed by his illegitimate son Peter Smerdyakov.
Who is a literary character? We devote our article to this issue. In it, we will tell you where this name came from, what literary characters and images are, and how to describe them in literature lessons at your own request or the teacher’s request.
Also from our article you will learn what an "eternal" image is and what images are called eternal.
Literary hero or character. Who is this?
Often we hear the concept of "literary character". But what it is about, few can explain. And even schoolchildren who have recently returned from a literature lesson often find it difficult to answer a question. What is this mysterious word "character"?
It came to us from ancient Latin (persona, personnage). Meaning - "person", "person", "person".
So, a literary character is a protagonist. We are mainly talking about prose genres, since images in poetry are usually called "lyrical hero".
It is impossible to write a story or a poem, a novel or a story without characters. Otherwise, it will be a meaningless set, if not of words, then perhaps of events. The heroes are people and animals, mythological and fantastic creatures, inanimate objects, for example, Andersen's tenacious tin soldier, historical figures, and even entire nations.
Classification of literary heroes
They can confuse with their number any connoisseur of literature. It's especially hard for middle school students. And especially those who prefer to play their favorite game instead of doing homework. How to classify heroes if this is required by a teacher or, even worse, an examiner?
The most win-win option: classify the characters according to their importance in the work. On this basis, literary heroes are divided into main and secondary. Without the protagonist, the work and its plot will be a collection of words. But with the loss of minor characters, we will lose a certain branch of the storyline or the expressiveness of events. But in general, the work will not suffer.
The second classification option is more limited and will not suit all works, but fairy tales and fantastic genres. This is the division of heroes into positive and negative. For example, in the fairy tale about Cinderella, the poor Cinderella herself is a positive hero, she evokes pleasant emotions, you sympathize with her. But the sisters and the evil stepmother are clearly heroes of a completely different warehouse.
Character characteristic. How to write?
Heroes of literary works sometimes (especially in a literature lesson at school) need a detailed description. But how to write it? The option "there once was such a hero. He is from a fairy tale about this and that" is clearly not suitable if the assessment is important. We will share with you a win-win option for writing the characteristics of a literary (and any other) hero. We offer you a plan with brief explanations of what and how to write.
- Introduction. Name the work and the character you will be talking about. You can also add here why you want to describe it.
- The place of the hero in the story (novel, story, etc.). Here you can write whether he is main or secondary, positive or negative, a person or a mythical or historical person.
- Appearance. It will not be superfluous with quotes, which will show you as an attentive reader, and even add volume to your characterization.
- Character. Everything is clear here.
- Actions and their characteristics in your opinion.
- Conclusions.
That's all. Save this plan for yourself, and it will come in handy more than once.
Notable literary characters
Although the very concept of a literary hero may seem completely unfamiliar to you, if you tell you the name of a hero, you will most likely remember a lot. This is especially true of well-known characters in literature, such as Robinson Crusoe, Don Quixote, Sherlock Holmes or Robin Hood, Assol or Cinderella, Alice or Pippi Longstocking.
Such heroes are called famous literary characters. These names are familiar to children and adults from many countries and even continents. Not knowing them is a sign of narrow-mindedness and lack of education. Therefore, if you have no time to read the work itself, ask someone to tell you about these heroes.
The concept of image in literature
Along with the character, you can often hear the concept of "image". What is this? The same as the hero, or not? The answer will be both positive and negative, because a literary character may well be a literary image, but the image itself does not have to be a character.
Often we call this or that character an image, but nature can appear in the same image in a work. And then the topic of the examination sheet can be "the image of nature in the story ...". How to be in that case? The answer is in the question itself: if we are talking about nature, you need to characterize its place in the work. Start with a description, add character elements, such as "the sky was frowning", "the sun was mercilessly hot", "the night was frightening with its darkness", and the characteristic is ready. Well, if you need a characterization of the image of the hero, then how to write it, see the plan and tips above.
What are the images?
Our next question. Here we highlight several classifications. Above, we considered one - the images of heroes, that is, people / animals / mythical creatures and images of nature, images of peoples and states.
Also images can be so-called "eternal". What is an "eternal image"? This concept names a hero created at some time by an author or folklore. But he was so "characteristic" and special that after years and epochs other authors write their characters from him, perhaps giving them other names, but without changing the essence of this. Such heroes include the fighter with Don Quixote, the hero-lover Don Juan and many others.
Unfortunately, modern fantasy characters do not become eternal, despite the love of fans. Why? What's better than this funny Don Quixote of Spider-Man, for example? It is difficult to explain it in two words. Only reading the book will give you the answer.
The concept of "proximity" of the hero, or My favorite character
Sometimes the hero of a work or movie becomes so close and loved that we try to imitate him, to be like him. This happens for a reason, and it is not in vain that the choice falls on this particular character. Often the favorite character becomes an image that already somewhat resembles us. Perhaps the similarity is in character, or experienced by both the hero and you. Or this character is in a situation similar to yours, and you understand and sympathize with him. In any case, it's not bad. The main thing is that you imitate only worthy heroes. And there are plenty of them in the literature. We wish you to meet only good heroes and imitate only the positive traits of their character.
